The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi launched the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana on January 13th, 2016. This insurance scheme (whose Hindi name means Prime Minister’s Crop Insurance Scheme) aims to support sustainable production in agriculture through the following means:

Offering monetary support to farmers who suffer crop damage or crop loss due to unforeseen events

Stabilising farmers’ income so that they are encouraged to continue in farming

Motivate producers to adopt modern and innovative practices in farming

Guarantee credit flow to the agriculture sector to promote food security, diversification of crops, boost growth and competitiveness of this sector, and offer protection to farmers from production risks

As per the scheme, a uniform premium scheme of just 2% for Kharif crops and 1.5% for Rabi crops are to be paid. For horticultural and commercial crops, a premium of only 5% is to be paid. The tagline for the PMFBY is “Minimum Premium, Maximum Insurance for Farmer Welfare”.